Online poll: Differing opinions on voting boundaries

The largest segment of respondents to last week’s caymancompass.com online poll do not think East End and North Side should be given special treatment to ensure their historical boundaries when the Cayman Islands adopts single-member constituencies, even if it means combining the two districts to give them an equal number of voters as other constituencies.

Of the 384 respondents to the one-week poll, 179 of them – 46.6 percent – thought East End and North Side should not get any special consideration.

“Just because something has been in place for years, it doesn’t necessarily make it a good idea,” said one person. “Time to change.”

“I think a national vote is the answer, but if we are going to 18 single-member constituents, they all need to have about 1,000 voters, including the Sister Islands,” said another person.

“Why should they have special treatment?” asked someone else. “If they have special treatment, then the rest of the districts should have the same special treatment.”

“If there is going to be a change to make the system more fair, then you need to do it across the board, exempting perhaps the Sister Islands only because their two seats are guaranteed by the constitution,” said another person.

Another 119 people – 31 percent – thought East End and North Side should be given special treatment, even if it meant their constituencies were smaller than others.

“They have a right to maintain their own boundaries as separate and distinct communities,” said one person.

“Smaller in people but larger in land and some votes are made about land use which affects them more,” said someone else.

“This is only being done to try to get rid of the men from the East – the true defenders of Caymanians,” said another person.

“North Side and East End are two separate communities with different views and values and deserve to have someone that represents those views separately,” commented one person. “Combining these two communities into one constituency will be difficult financially and physically for any one person to provide adequate representation.”

“I really think single-member constituencies are a big mistake because Cayman is just too small,” said one person. “However, if they are implemented, I don’t think East End and North Side should be given special treatment. They either need to be expanded so that they have roughly the same number of voters as other constituencies or combined into one.”

“They could leave the boundaries as is,” said someone else. “One person votes for one candidate. The top candidates get the seats. For example, in George Town the six candidates with the largest number of votes will hold the seats in the Legislative Assembly.”

“There should be a reasonable number of MLAs representing the entire country – let’s say 13 or pick an odd number so there can always be a tie-breaker,” said another person. “All voters get to choose only one of all candidates running. The ones who get the most votes are in, and they work for three islands and all citizens. Anyone wanting to run for premier must run only for that post and whoever gets the most votes gets in, so each citizen is casting two votes – one for the assembly, one for premier.”

Thirty-three people – 8.6 percent – said they needed more information to decide. Four people – 1 percent – responded “other” to the question.

“Grand Cayman is so small, why do you need to divide the people?” asked one person. “It’s typical big government overkill.”

“Leave things as they are,” said someone else. “This little island doesn’t need any more divisions.”

Next week’s poll question

If a restaurant doesn’t add automatic gratuity, how much do you generally tip if you have no complaints about the service? (Explain why in comments)

Nothing

0 to 5 percent of the bill

6 to 10 percent of the bill

11 to 15 percent of the bill

16 to 20 percent of the bill

More than 20 percent of the bill.

To participate in this poll, visit www.caymancompass.com starting May 10.